Month: August 2013

New York-based low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) said it has appointed Marisa Von Wieding to the position of vice president system operations control.

In this role, Von Wieding is responsible for the airline´s operations of 850 daily flights in 79 locations throughout the Americas, including dispatch, air traffic management, crew services and emergency response and care.

Von Wieding is promoted from her role of director, JFK operations and customer service, and reports to Alex Battaglia, senior vice president, airports and system operations.

She joined JetBlue in 2007 after a 24-year career with Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Pan Am, culminating in the role of general manager.

JetBlue serves 79 cities with 850 daily flights and plans to launch service in 2013 to Worcester, Massachusetts, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, as well as Lima, Peru, subject to receipt of government operating authority.

Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) said its ShareFile now offers full integrations with iManage and Worldox.

The new integrations eliminate the lengthy process legal and security risks professionals currently face in order to share documents outside of their document management systems. In addition to simplifying legal document management, the integrations also ensure secure mobile management of legal documents, enabling legal professionals to remain productive when away from their desks.

Citrix is the cloud computing company that allows people to work and collaborate from anywhere, accessing apps and data on any of the latest devices, as easily as they would in their own office. Learn more at www.citrix.com.

According to US labour union the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union members employed by US package delivery carrier Air Express International have approved a one-year contract extension that protects health, welfare and pension benefits and provides a USD 750 bonus.

The contract-extension was approved by a margin of 84-16%. The contract covers 800 workers.

Due to substantial operational changes that are likely coming to the AEI stations later this year, the Teamsters National AEI Negotiating Committee said it determined that the one-year contract extension was needed to allow more time to investigate and evaluate the company´s new business model and its potential impact on workers´ jobs.

In exchange for the union´s agreeing to the extension, AEI agreed to maintain participation in all existing health, welfare and pension funds with an increase in the contribution rate of up to USD 1 per hour effective as soon as payable with a USD 750 bonus for all employees, including those on layoff list, to be paid within 30 days of ratification of the extension.

The ratified extension is effective through March 31, 2014, although the union anticipates reaching a tentative agreement with AEI well in advance of that expiration date.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4m men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Local Transport Minister Norman Baker announced today that GBP5m from the Clean Bus Technology Fund has been awarded to eleven local authorities in towns and cities in England for the upgrade of nearly 400 older buses, helping to clean up emissions in some of the most polluted urban areas.

The clean Bus Technology Fund was launched in June and 31 local authorities outside of Greater London, where air quality does not meet European Commission standards, submitted bids for grants of up to GBP1m to support upgrading buses with pollution-reducing technology.

The entrants were asked to develop new technologies that demonstrated the likelihood of success in improving air quality. They could also use proven technologies, such as exhaust after-treatment and conversion to hybrid propulsion or cleaner low carbon fuels. Within the top 11 local authorities, new technologies included a hybrid flywheel, which can deliver up to 20% fuel reduction and harmful emissions, a gas engine replacement and other innovative modifications.

The projects had to meet 5 criteria: to fit with the objectives of establishing the best technologies and development of the retrofit industry; air quality impact; value for money; deliverability; and if they offered cross-cutting benefits such as encouraging economic growth.

The 11 winning areas are West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive; Merseytravel; Greater Manchester; Southampton City Council; Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council; Suffolk County Council; Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council and Nexus; Lincolnshire County Council and City of Lincoln Council; St Albans City and District Council; Cheshire West and Cheshire Borough Council; and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

The Environment Minister Lord de Mauley said “This funding boost will bring real improvements to air quality around the country which is good news for the environment and our health. I am keen to embrace new technology and encourage local authorities to share their experience so that others can follow suit.”

Aircell (NASDAQ: GOGO) reported its Gogo Biz service will expand to include voice capabilities, beginning October 1st. Gogo Biz was originally launched in 2009 as an Internet-only service in the business aviation market.

Because Gogo Biz operates on Aircell´s air-to-ground technology, its voice calls are among the clearest in aviation on par with mobile phone calls on the ground. As a “two-in-one” service, Gogo Biz offers Internet and voice capabilities from a single system, which can eliminate the need for separate systems, dramatically reducing equipment requirements and installation costs.

In flight, passengers and flight crews can use the new Gogo Biz voice capabilities on their own smartphones and/or with Aircell´s new cabin handsets.

Gogo Text & Talk operates over Wi-Fi technology (not cellular) and uses the passenger´s own mobile number (not an auto-attendant, two-step dialing or call-forwarding protocol). Because the service is 100% software-based, it can be added to any standard Gogo Biz equipment package without additional hardware, weight or installation downtime. This makes Gogo Text & Talk practical for aircraft as small as light jets and turboprops while being hundreds of thousands of dollars less expensive than traditional, picocell-based solutions, which offer similar capabilities.

Aircell, a Gogo company, is a provider of in-flight connectivity equipment and services to the business aviation market. The company´s website is at www.aircell.com and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aircellbizav.

Datawatch Corp. (NASDAQ: DWCH) said it has appointed Mary Dunlavey-Murphy as the global vice president, Human Resources.

“We are extremely happy to have Mary bring her extensive experience in human resources, specifically for the software industry, to Datawatch,” said Michael Morrison, president and chief executive officer for Datawatch.

In addition to running her own human resources and executive coaching consulting practice over the past few years, Dunlavey-Murphy has most recently been the global head of human resources for the 3500 person healthcare division of Nypro A Jabil Company. She holds a B.S. in social services from Salem State College.

Datawatch is a leader in providing information optimization products and solutions that allow organizations to deliver the greatest data variety possible into their big data and analytic applications. It is headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts with offices in London, Munich, Singapore, Sydney and Manila, and with partners and customers in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.datawatch.com.

Cvent (NYSE: CVT) reported it has launched a new support centre for its 187,000 users by partnering with Salesforce.com to create a self-service environment in which they´ll find an array of valuable resources.

Manjula Aggarwal, senior vice president of client services at Cvent, said, “While our client services representatives are always available to assist our customers, the new support centre provides our clients with direct access, right at their fingertips, to an extensive database of information about our products, giving them the option to search for information or troubleshoot at their own convenience.”

To learn more about Cvent´s new support centre or event management platform, visit http://www.cvent.com/support

Cvent is a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform. For more information, visit www.cvent.com,

Model Builder for Big Data brings proven machine learning and statistical data mining to Big Data for the first time, enabling analysts to find the predictive signals hidden in huge and challenging data sources.

FICO Model Builder for Big Data is part of the FICO Decision Management Platform, and is available on-premise and is expected to be available via the FICO Analytic Cloud.

FICO is a leading analytics software company, helping businesses in 80+ countries make better decisions that drive higher levels of growth, profitability and customer satisfaction. Learn more at www.fico.com.

California-based aircraft modernisation specialist The Aviation Alliance LLC said that it has secured a commitment to finance and move forward on a Gulfstream III conversion and modernisation initiative which will be called the FanStream Project.

The Gulfstream III, from US airframer Gulfstream Aerospace, is a twinjet that was built from 1979-1986. It was designed as an improvement of the earlier Grumman Gulfstream II. Around 206 of the jets were built.

This is The Aviation Alliance´s second remanufacturing programme. Earlier this year, the company announced its Excalibur 421 turbine conversion and modernization program for legacy Cessna (NYSE: TXT) 421C piston twins.

The Aviation Alliance, LLC, manages programs that remanufacture, modernize and market aircraft that are meant to rival or exceed new-aircraft performance, safety and reliability, at a fraction of the cost.

Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT) reported it has shipped its one millionth UniFi enterprise Wi-Fi access point, placing it fourth in unit market share in just two years, according to Gartner Research.

In celebration of this important milestone, the onemth UniFi access point is plated in 24-karat gold. Ubiquiti will announce the purchaser of the “Golden AP” upon discovery.

“Enterprise buyers have quickly discovered that cutting-edge, high-performance Wi-Fi technology doesn´t have to be expensive,” said Robert J. Pera, CEO at Ubiquiti Networks. “Ubiquiti is proving that by eliminating inefficient business practices, we can disrupt incumbents in a highly competitive market and deliver great value to customers.”

Ubiquiti Networks is closing the digital divide by building network communication platforms for everyone and everywhere. The company´s website is at http://www.ubnt.com.